Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐)

This outlet at Xinyi is the very first Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) restaurant, opened in 1985. The lady at the door is very professional. Beside Mandarin, she could also speak in Cantonese, English and Japanese! I was extremely impressed! Although there were a lot of patrons and the queue was long, the service was very efficient.


Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) building at Xinyi


Food menu outside the restaurant


The icons of Din Tai Fung


Oriental salad in special vinegar dressing (小菜)


Steamed pork dumplings (小笼包)


Noodle with minced pork in bean sauce (炸酱面)


Christmas edition pineapple cake and tea


Our goodies from Din Tai Fung

Taipei 101 (臺北101)

Taipei 101 (臺北101) is currently the world's second tallest building. It has 101 floors (above ground)... hence named Taipei 101. As of now, there is no metro station nearby, but there will be one in the near future. For our first few days in Taiwan, we stayed in Home Hotel, where we can see Taipei 101 from our room.


View of Taipei 101 from the ground floor

The ticket booth for the observatory is located on the 5th floor. Just opposite the booth, are the lifts that go directly to the 89th floor, where there's the 360 degrees view of the surrounding. Unfortunately, the outdoor viewing decks are closed. I'm not too sure if it was due to their preparation for New Year's eve countdown or because it's the winter season.


Ticket counters


Looking westwards


Looking northwards


Looking eastwards


Looking southwards


Taipei 101 models sold in the attraction shop


Send a mail to someone from Taipei 101

Wind damper plays an important function in this skyscraper, to reduce movement of the building due to wind. And hence their mascot - damper babies:


Red damper babies all over the shopping mall


Red damper baby welcomes you to the observatory deck on the 89th floor.



The yellow round thing in the middle is the actual wind damper.

Museum Of Contemporary Art, Taipei (台北當代藝術館)

Somehow, I happened to find out that their Volkswagen Exhibition coincides with our Taiwan trip, so we visited MOCA. On the wall of the building, there are many insect wing-like plastic pieces stuck on it... not sure if it is permanent or a temporary decoration.


It turns out, the Volkswagen Exhibition is only painted little car models... I thought there would be more than just that.



However, there are some rather interesting paintings. One of which is titled "Falling into Deep Water" and the painting is almost submerge in a tank of water.


SEA Aquarium

Before entering the S.E.A. Aquarium, we had to walk through the Maritime Experiential Museum. Although there's probably many interesting artifacts to see at the museum, we were too eager to the fishes and quickly walked through it.


The tunnel in the first part of the S.E.A. Aquarium reminds me of Underwater World, which I visited when I was still a kid.




It is really a difficult task trying to catch a sharp image of the moving marine creatures.


Bright orange starfish clinging on the glass


Cylindrical fish tank




There's endless little fishes and colourful corals to see in various display tanks.


Sea animal hiding in their shells


My best photo of the small jelly fishes that keeps bouncing around in dim lights.



Bigger jellyfishes dancing around in water


This super big "fish tank" is near the end of the S.E.A. aquarium.


A manta ray swimming across the "ocean"


Another manta ray surrounded by many small fishes





On the way to the exit, walking back in the direction towards the entrance, there are more marine life to see.


The path leads us back the cylindrical tank, but now we can have a closer look at the colourful fishes swimming at the top of the tank.


Danshui (淡水) & Fisherman Wharf (漁人碼頭)

From Taipei City, we took the metro to Danshui station (淡水站), which is also the terminal station. Leading to the jetty, is a long stretch of street selling typical Taiwan snacks and other stuff. To get to Fisherman Wharf (漁人碼頭), we have took a boat at the jetty. The boat wasn't a big one and was quite crowded. Fortunately, we found ourselves a spot that was not too much at the side of the boat, because water was splashing in as the boat travels out into the sea!


The crowded food street at Danshui.





The boat is leaving the jetty and we are on our way to Fisherman Wharf.


View of the city on the boat


Arriving at Fisherman Wharf jetty and greeted by the pale pinkish Lover's Bridge (情人橋) in the background.



Lover's Bridge (情人橋)


View from the Lover's Bridge

It's a pity it was a cold and rainy day when we made our visit. So, we spend most of the time hiding in a cafe: WaterBay (海岸景觀餐廳).


Wide selection of tea and coffee in the menu


My pot of tea that came with a warmer, syrup and some nuts.



Enjoying live music while we sip our tea.